Elizabeth Caldwell of Zebulon won 7 blue ribbons in this year's N.C. State Fair cooking competitions, along with 2 red ribbons and 1 white. (See list of entries below). She was kind enough to share two of her blue ribbon recipes with us here.

The first is a pound cake recipe handed down from her mother. This year is the first time she entered the recipe. The second is a "Baby Ruth" candy recipe she entered this year for the third time. "Baby Ruth" won nothing the first year, 3rd place the second year, and 1st place this year.

Click below for recipes.

Reports that Steph's Strawberries at the N.C. State Fair might be wrapping up their last year have been greatly exaggerated. Or least not totally approved by all members of management.

Arnold Emmons, one half of the Arnold and Stephani Emmons of Person County who run Steph's Strawberries, posted a comment on this blog earlier in the week indicating the couple might be looking at their last year at the fair. The problem is, Arnold hadn't really discussed that with Stephani.

When I asked Stephani this morning about the possibility of this being their last year, she had no idea what I was talking about. I explained the blog item and she summoned her husband. Arnold grinned sheepishly and said, "I said 'maybe' didn't I?"

Stephani said they've had their stand at the fair for 28 years and plan to be back next year, selling homemande strawberry shortcakes, bloomin' onions, chocolate covered bacon, and Frito pies. Their stand is across from the Village of Yesteryear, beside the 4-H Children's Barnyard. They usually have a giant inflatable strawberry atop their stand, but their motor is busted today.

If you do stop by and get a shortcake (they are delicious), be advised that they have a little bit of a story behind them this week. Stephani said they ran out of shortcakes so she stopped by the North Point Kroger near the Eno River State Park Tuesday night to buy more flour, and was robbed at knife point leaving the store. Stephani wasn't hurt, but the stand had to close down on Wednesday so they could get all their locks changed and take care of some other business.

We have the recipes for the winners in Friday's "Live Well with Lean Beef" contest at the N.C. State Fair. All entries had to include eat least 3 oz of beef. The contest was sponsored by the N.C. Cattlemen's Beef Council.

The winning recipes were Healthy Skirt Steak over Farro Salad; Vegetable Stuffed Beef Rolls; and Cajun Stuffed Beef with Kale, Potatoes, and Apricot Sauce.

Below are the winning recipes from the Pecan Recipe at the N.C. State Fair. The contest took place on Thursday. Winning recipes were Cheesy Pecan Cranberry Crisps; Pecan, Sausage and Squash Crumble Pie; Pecan Pimento Cheese Puff Pastry Pinwheels, and Pecan Cranberry Casserole.

The competition was sponsored by the N.C. Pecan Association

Here are the winners in the Tar Heel Pork Challenge at the N.C. State Fair. The winning recipes were Roast Pork with Bacon Jam Glaze, a Bacon-Wrapped Shrimp and Grits Appetizer, a Fall Pork Casserole, Sizzlin’ Sicilian Stuffed Pork. The contest was sponsored by the N.C. Pork Council.

If you can't win a State Fair Apple Recipe Contest with something called "Caramel Apple Cinnamon Breakfast Rolls," you might need to hang it up. No problem for Mary Boury of Knightdale. She scored bigtime with the judges on that one and brought home the first place prize. Check out her recipe and other winners below.

Here are the winning recipes from The Incredible Edible Egg Quiche Recipe Contest, which was held yesterdray at the State Fair.

Here are the winning recipes from Sunday's Pillsbury Pie Contest. I can personally promise you that the Japanese Fruit Pie is delicious.

The Deep-fried Chicken Pot Pie is another new fair item this year, so I felt obligated to test it out. For you.

My assistant taster and I have given it high marks. The filling has small pieces of white meat chicken with peas, carrots, corn, and onion in a creamy sauce. It was cooked very crispy and wasn't greasy, which is great. Overall, it was very tasty.

You get four pot pies for $5.

The empanada-like pastry is available at Woody's, at the south entrance of the main midway. They also serve fried pickles and wings. Look for the 20-foot-tall blue Powerade bottle on top of their building.

Joe Hatch, the co-owner of Woody's, says the pot pies are selling well for a new item, with sales getting better each day. Woody's has a restaurant in City Market in Raleigh and a Woody's Sports Tavern in Cary.